Graf was the first tennis player to achieve the feat: wheelchair tennis players Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott achieved the Golden Slam in 2021. [135][136], From 1992 to 1999, Graf dated racing driver Michael Bartels. . She ended the 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995, and 1996 tennis seasons as the worlds top-ranked player. 29 Jan Tennis Norge . Tennis was a demonstration sport during the 1984 Olympic Games. Steffi Graf was born in Mannheim, West Germany on June 14, 1969. 1 was in peerless form on the clay courts of Roland Garros. [146], In December 1999, Graf was named the greatest female tennis player of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by the Associated Press. [11][12][13][14] She won six French Open singles titles (second to Evert), seven Wimbledon singles titles, four Australian Open titles, and five US Open singles titles. Graf won a majority of her slams using her sharp slice backhand and her incredible forehand. Victories at Hamburg and Berlin (beating Snchez Vicario in the finals of both) prepared her for the French Open, where she defeated Snchez Vicario in the semifinals after losing the first set 60. [67][68], In personal terms, 1995 was a difficult year for Graf, as she was accused by German authorities of tax evasion in the early years of her career. She is the only singles player (male or female) to have achieved a Grand Slam across three surfaces (grass, clay, and hard courts). Seles defeated Graf at the Australian Open 46, 63, 62. The treatment was for a fracture of the cartilage as well as a shortening and partial rupture of the patellar tendon of her left knee. Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf; 14. 1969, , ) . Next came Wimbledon, where Martina Navratilova had won six straight titles. Graf was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004. She would either destroy opponents, clinically and . [73] Graf came back to the tour in March, winning back to back titles in Indian Wells and Miami, followed by a record ninth title at the German Open in May and a quarterfinal defeat in Rome against Martina Hingis. [10] Graf's athletic ability and aggressive game played from the baseline have been credited with developing the modern style of play that has come to dominate today's game. [88] Sabatini said of the partnership: "doubles is all about communicating with each other, and we didn't communicate that much. Graf is the only person to have won the 'Golden Slam' (1988). That was the last competitive match Graf and Snchez Vicario would ever play against one another. 1988 French Open. 1 men's tennis player Andre Agassi in October 2001. Graf did not lose a set the whole tournament. At Wimbledon, after struggling through early-round three-setters against Mariaan de Swardt and Patty Fendick, she easily defeated Natasha Zvereva in the quarterfinal, Sabatini in the semifinal, and Seles in the final, 62, 61, with Seles playing in almost complete silence because of widespread media and player criticism of her grunting. Official match time was 34 minutes, which charitably included two minutes of rain delay. In the Miami final, she lost her first set of the yearto Natasha Zverevaafter winning 54 consecutive sets. Venus Williams won her first Games titles 19 years ago, and she hasnt finished yet! 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a record 377 total weeks. Steffi Graf Youth Tennis Center was founded and dedicated October 1991 in Leipzig, Germany.Founder and Chairperson of Children for Tomorrow, a non-profit foundation with the goal of implementing and developing projects to support children who have been traumatized by war or other crises, and she is directly involved in the running of the . He claimed that he committed the attack to help Graf reclaim the world No. This including playing basketball and working with specialists in nutrition, physical and mental strength. 1999 Athlete of the Century for the category Female Athlete in Ballsports by a panel of the, 1999 The Greatest Female Tennis Player of the 20th century, by a panel of tennis experts assembled by the Associated Press, 1999 Female Athlete of the Year, by the German television broadcaster ARD, 1999 Female Sports Award of the Last Decade, by, 1999 Olympic Order granted by Dr. Antonio Samaranch, president of the IOC, 2002 Medal of Honor, bestowed by the prime minister of Graf's home state, 2008 Cross of the Order of Merit awarded to her by German Federal President Horst Khler. [122] Graf's racquets were strung at 29 kilograms (64 pounds), significantly above the 50-60 pound range recommended by Wilson. In the subsequent Amelia Island final on clay, Graf lost her first match of the year to Sabatini but returned to European clay with easy victories at Hamburg and Berlin. Winner of as many as 22 Grand Slam titles, Steffi's presence was enough to send shivers down the spine of her opponents. Seles and Graf met in the final, with Graf winning in three sets, saving a set point in the first set. This narrow focus meant that Graf, already shy and retiring by nature,[24] made few friends on the tour in her early years, but it led to a steady improvement in her play. She was one of the most fierce Tennis stars of her generation and tasted great success on every court. 98 in 1983, No. She had just lost a three-set semifinal to No. That doesn't mean it will happen. [45] In Berlin, she extended her unbeaten streak to 66 matches (second in WTA history to Navratilova's 74) before losing the final to Monica Seles, 46, 36. Graf vs Williams H2H MATCHES PLAYED All Rounds Final 1/2 1/4 First Second Third Fourth Qualifying q-First q-Second Pre-q Rubber 1 Rubber 2 Rubber 3 Rubber 4 Rubber 5 Robin Bronze N/A After Wimbledon, for the first time in my career, I didn't feel like going to a tournament. The Serbian tennis player this week surpassed Steffi Graf in the record of weeks at the top of the world ranking (both men's and women's) and there is curiosity to understand where Nole can arrive . In 2008 Graf lost an exhibition match against Kimiko Date at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo. [80][81] [44] Graf briefly regained the top ranking after winning at Wimbledon but lost it again after her loss to Navratilova at the US Open. Graf again lost to Monica Seles in the final of the French Open 67, 46. Grand Slams) main-draw, Olympic Games and Fed Cup are included in winloss records. Working with her father and then-coach Pavel Sloil, Graf typically practiced for up to four hours a day, often heading straight from airports to practice courts. Last edited on 20 February 2023, at 18:23, BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, Learn how and when to remove this template message, 3 different Grand Slam titles won without losing a set, 2 titles won without losing a set in the same calendar year, Tennis records of the Open Era - women's singles, "Duden | Steffi | Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition", "The 10 most influential players in the history of tennis", "ON TENNIS; Graf Is Best, Right? Seles established herself as the new dominant player on the women's tour, winning the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open and, in March, ending Graf's record 186 consecutive-weeks hold on the World No. n civa ani ajunge . And each time the opponent threw a problem her way, she . Meanwhile, her naturally aggressive style of play, effective backhand slice and speed around the court made her even more dominant on fast surfaces such as hard courts, grass and carpet. [82] Upon her return Graf defeated world No. Answer (1 of 4): It isn't hard to replicate Steffi Graf's forehand, it's just not optimal. Graf began playing tennis with the encouragement of her father, who became her coach. Serena was 17. Graf secured the World 124th position in her first year. More to Graf's net worth, family, height, net worth, nationality, residence, mansion, stats, retirement, now, news, updates and facts. steffi graf opponents. That year Graf lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open in straight sets to Amanda Coetzer. She was absolutely right the term Golden Slam was born at that exact moment. [43] In the final, Navratilova led 63, 42 before Graf rallied to win 36, 75, 61 for her third Grand Slam singles title of the year. It was Graf's final Grand Slam singles title as she retired later that year. Graf won seven singles titles at Wimbledon, six singles titles at the French Open, five singles titles at the US Open, and four singles titles at the Australian Open. Stefanie Maria Graf (/rf, rf/ GRA(H)F, German: [tfi af] (listen);[4][5] born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Suffering from food poisoning, she had struggled to beat Monica Seles in their semifinal 63, 36, 63 and said that she had menstrual cramps in the final. In the middle of the second set, Graf suffered back spasms while reaching for a ball in the ad court. She lost twice to Sabatini in the early spring at the Lipton International and the Bausch & Lomb Championships, which now brought her to seven losses in her last eight matches against Sabatini; however, the Bausch & Lomb loss would be Graf's final loss to Sabatini, winning her next, and last eight matches against Sabatini.[49]. 3, She was not included in the official year end ranking. Four consecutive indoor tournament victories in the autumn helped improve her season, but for the third consecutive year, she failed to win the Virginia Slims Championships, where she lost in the first round to Lori McNeil. It just felt something special that I was going to, recalls Graf. [85][86] She was ranked No. However, Graf admitted in 1995 that she would have preferred having a two-handed backhand in retrospect. 1999 Germany Television Award for her outstanding performance as tennis player and her importance to the German public. First professional tournament: 1982 Porsche Grand Prix at Filderstadt, Germany Plays: right handed, one handed backhand Raquet: Dunlop / Wilson Former Clubs: HTC Heidelberg, LTTC Rot-Weiss Berlin, BASF Ludwigshafen Favorite Tournament: Wimbledon Favorite Surface: Grass court Former Coaches: Pavel Slozil (1986-1991), Heinz Guenthardt . Her gold medal came after victories in the Grand Slam tournaments at Melbourne, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and New York, giving rise to a new term: the Golden Slam. Graf defaulted before the 1997 final of this tournament, which is classified as a walkover and, therefore, does not count as a loss on her official record. Graf became the first player in the open era to defeat the first, second, and third ranked players in the same Grand Slam tournament by beating second-ranked Davenport in the quarterfinals and third-ranked Seles in the semifinals. Graf reached 13 consecutive singles major finals from the 1987 French Open to the 1990 French Open, winning nine of them. After breaking Novotn's serve, Graf won the next four games to take the match 76, 16, 64. However, in the Federation Cup final in Vancouver, Canada, three weeks later, she defeated Evert easily 62, 61. She started the year strongly, with six tournament victories heading into the French Open, with the highlight being at the tournament in Miami, where she defeated Martina Navratilova in a semifinal and Chris Evert in the final and lost only 20 games in the seven rounds of the tournament. The German allowed Zvereva just 13 points, three of them in that one early game. Steffi Graf was a dominant force in tennis during the late 1980s and for much of the 1990s. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 20:01. I was not having fun anymore. I had one day to turn around, get home, change and get on the flight to Seoul. And the year began as expected, with Graf extending her Grand Slam tournament winning streak to five events at the Australian Open, defeating Helena Sukov in the final. Steffi Graf and Serena Williams played just twice. [142] The Graf-Agassi family resides in Summerlin, a community in the Las Vegas Valley. She claimed a prestigious and symbolic victory in the final against Yugoslavias Sabrina Gole on the courts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. Angelique Kerber recalls memories of Steffi Graf at Wimbledon after becoming first German to win trophy since 1996 . Graf was trailing Martina Navratilova in the final 75, 20 before winning the match 57, 62, 61. Graf then won her next three tournaments at Amelia Island, Charleston, and Berlin, culminating in a 62, 63 defeat of Navratilova in the final of the latter. This is a list of the main career statistics of professional tennis player Steffi Graf. The earliest sign that Steffi Graf was going to be one of the sport's all-time winners came at the end of a defeat. In 1984, she first gained international attention when she almost upset the tenth seed, Jo Durie of the United Kingdom, in a fourth round Centre Court match at Wimbledon. Whether this scandal affected Graf's form is open to debate. She won five consecutive singles majors (1988 Australian Open to 1989 Australian Open), and seven out of eight, in two calendar years (1988 Australian Open to 1989 US Open, except 1989 French Open). In addition to being great as players, they were also great as husband and wife. Her toughest battle came against rising star Martina Hingis in the semifinal, with Hingis unable to convert on five set points. As a result, she hit her forehand with exceptional pace and accuracy. She was in hard-court action in the capital of the Republic of Korea on 20 September and breezed through the rounds conceding just one set, against the Soviet Unions Larissa Savchenko in the quarter-final before coming up against Sabatini once again in the gold-medal match on 1 October 1988. Fury's brother suggests alternative opponent if Usyk fight does not happen. [124][125][126] In 2010, Graf and Agassi collaborated with Head and developed the new line of Star Series tennis racquets. Even though she lost the opening set, Graf went on to prevail in three sets. It was decided to grant her a joint number-one ranking with Graf who took her first loss of the year in the first round to Amanda Coetzer. . Chicago was notable, however, for being the first tournament Graf played with her new coach, former Swiss player Heinz Gnthardt. More than two years elapsed before Seles competed again. After winning two more indoor tournaments at Zurich and Brighton, she failed once again in the Virginia Slims Championships, losing her quarterfinal to Novotn. [156], Graf was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004 and the German Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.[157][158]. At the year-ending Virginia Slims Championships, Graf was upset by Pam Shriver, only her third loss of the year. In 1988, there was no bronze medal match, and both beaten semifinalists received bronze medals. Once again, she reached the final without conceding a single set. Steffi Graf, byname of Stephanie Maria Graf, (born June 14, 1969, Brhl, West Germany [now in Germany]), German tennis player who dominated women's tennis in the late 1980s and '90s, winning 22 Grand Slam singles titles. On 5 June 1999, backed by a passionate central court crowd at Roland Garros, Graf won an epic final 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 against world no. 1 player. Graf retired at the age of 30 in 1999 while ranked as the world No. It actually had several major flaws, especially based on today's understanding of stroke. will, Steffi would don her stoical mask and use her cannon of a forehand, the most powerful weapon in the women's game, to overwhelm her opponents. Steffi Graf, a Tennis champ is married to husband Andre Agassi with two children. Graf's father had approached Gnthardt during the 1991 Virginia Slims Championships. Pause, rewind, play: Steffi Graf - only player to win all four Majors and the Olympic gold in a year. "Peter Graf" redirects here. It was important for me to win here, she said afterwards. However, she finished her year with a highlight, winning her first Virginia Slims Championships since 1989 by beating Arantxa Snchez Vicario in the final despite needing painkillers for a back injury. Her 63, 60 defeat of Gabriela Sabatini in a semifinal was described by veteran observer Ted Tinling as "probably the best tennis I've seen". Starting in the early 1990s, she used the slice almost exclusively in baseline rallies and mostly limited the topspin backhand to passing shots. Graf lost her singles match to Elena Likhovtseva 54. On 13 August 1999, shortly after retiring with a strained hamstring from a second round match against Amy Frazier in San Diego, Graf announced her retirement from the women's tour at age 30. Though she lost the game to opponent Tracy Austin by 6-4, 6-0, this did very little to dishearten the young blood. The facts: American Amy Frazier was Graf's final opponent. Talk Tennis Guru. Graf and Kohde-Kilsch lost in the semifinals to Jana Novotn and Helena Sukov 75, 63. [141] Agassi has said that he and Graf are not pushing their children toward becoming tennis players. Graf who dated Michael Bartels is the daughter-in-law of Emmanuel Agassi. At Wimbledon, Graf defeated Jana Novotn to win her third consecutive, and fifth overall, ladies' title. She made it to the final and took the first set against Snchez Vicario but lost the next two sets Sanchez Vicario's last victory over Graf. Steffi Graf and Serena Williams are two of the greatest women's tennis players ever. . [48] In Boca Raton, Florida, Graf reached her first final of the year, where she faced Conchita Martnez for the title. I don't care who believes Court and Serena are greater than her because I don't subscribe to highest slam count is the be-all and end-all in GOAT. [65] She came back in February, winning four consecutive tournaments in Paris, Delray Beach, Miami and Houston. Graf then won in Leipzig, with her 500th career victory coming in a quarterfinal against Judith Wiesner. At the beginning of 1999 Graf played the warm up event to the Australian Open in Sydney; she defeated Serena Williams in the second round and Venus in the quarterfinals before losing to Lindsay Davenport in the semifinal. In the third and deciding set, Novotn had a point to go up 51 on her serve. #3. As the defending champion Graf lost in straight sets to Mary Pierce in the French Open semifinal. Graf's Grand Slam tournament breakthrough came in 1987. In total, she won 22 Grand Slam titles: the Australian Open four times, Roland Garros six times, Wimbledon seven times and the US Open five times. In the meantime, she lost surprisingly to Nicole Bradtke of Australia in a Fed Cup match on clay before winning the Acura Classic in San Diego and the Canadian Open in Toronto in preparation for the US Open. [98][99] It was Graf and Snchez Vicario's first head-to-head meeting since 1996. ", "An Evolutionary History of Tennis Racquets", "Marketing to the female target audience", "OFFBEAT: Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf team up for new tennis racquet", "Viewing Gallery: Happy Birthday! . . Graf lost twice to Sabatini during the spring, once on hardcourts in Boca Raton, Florida, and once on clay at Amelia Island, Florida. Graf has a 20863 (76.8%) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.[1]. It was the longest French Open women's singles final in history, both in terms of time (3 hours and 3 minutes) and number of games played (40). 2 Hingis and world No. [115], Early in her career, Graf wore Dunlop apparel, before signing an endorsement contract with Adidas in 1985. This was a major upset as Garrison had to save a match point to defeat Monica Seles in the quarterfinal, and was expected to easily fall to Graf, whom she had not beaten in four years. Graf reached 13 consecutive major singles finals, from the 1987 French Open through to . Furthermore, Graf's backhand was, in a subtle way, an extremely aggressive shot. The American then took her opponent to a tie-break in the second set, eventually going down 7-3. Graf developed a bone spur at the base of her spine due to a congenital condition of the sacroiliac joint. On this day in 1999, Steffi Graf bid adieu to the sport just weeks after winning the French Open and reaching the Wimbledon final. [39] In the Boca Raton final, Graf lost the only set she conceded to Chris Evert in their final seven matches.[40]. 1, Reached the final of every tournament played in a calendar year, Two streaks of 5 years with winning percentage of 90%+, 8 WTA Tier 1/Premier-5/Premier Mandatory clay titles, 89.63% win rate (147-17) in WTA Tier 1/Premier-5/Premier Mandatory events, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 18:23. [32] That was the shortest-ever and most one-sided Grand Slam final ever and the only double bagel in a Major final since 1911. She was anchored in the top spot in the Women's Tennis Association rankings for a record 377 weeks, including 186 consecutive from August 1987 to March 1991. [105] It was the first time in 14 years Graf had played Navratilova. [70][71] He was eventually released after serving 25 months. Her overall record in 56 Grand Slam events was 27832 (90 percent) (8410 at the French Open, 747 at Wimbledon, 739 at the US Open, and 476 at the Australian Open). [127], Graf has signed many endorsement deals throughout the years including a ten-year endorsement deal with car manufacturer Opel in 1985,[128] and Rexona from 1994 to 1998.
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